Library



Y 9, 1935. A. s. MACDONALD Q W LiBRARY Original Filed July 2; 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l jky'z I IVEiZITOR L f BY 2 ATTORNEY July 9, 1935. A. s. MACDONALD 2,007,655

LIBRARY Original Filed July 2, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ENTOR M {P WQ CMMJ BY m) 16 ATTORNEY Patented July 9, 1935 ATENT QFFICE Angus S. Macdonald, New York,'N. 3Z2, assignor to Snead & Company, Jersey City,N. J., a corporatio'n ofiNew Jerseyii li Original application July 2, 1930. Serial No. 465,321. Divided and thisapplicatiqn January 6,1932,-SerialNo. 585,003 :1 I

, H 7 Claims. This invention relates to improvementsLindi- "barriesand has to da primarily with ventilation thereof. *1 This application is a division of my copendingapplication Serial-No. 465,321yf1led July '2;'-1930,*no'w matured into Patent No. 1,854,158. One of the primary objects of the invention is two/improve 'thejventilation in libraries and the nature of my -ii-nvention will be best understood irom the-following. l -The usual way of ventilating the libraries is to provide deck-slits in the 'aisles' adjacent ,the ranges, conditioned air being supplied "at the lower *floor and returned from the topmost-floor, the air being free to flowupwardly fromfloor l tofloor through the deck slits. In winter the air iS,"(lf course, warmed, andin summer llliS cooled in the conditioning apparatus. g g u -With this system of ventilation. there are dead areasiand diifusion of heat or cold does not take 20 placeflvery well, in consequence of which there'is non-uniformity of temperature 1 even on floors, this condition being particularly aggravated in regions adjacent windows incold weather. Furthermore, the air as it warms, has a tendency to 25., rise directly; throughthe slits from deck to deck, which makes the upper floor, stufiy'in both warm and cold weather, and makes the lower 'fioors chilly -in-coldfweathe1a In this connection the heating effects of the lighting are very substan- 0.- tial' in libraries, a rise in temperature between entering and outgoing air being noticeable with only twenty percent of the lights turned-on; It rhight-herebe mentioned thatthe location and; number of lamps for given areas is approximately 35; thesame formostlibraries. I lifurthermore, according to this arrangement, the'heating effect of radiators is localizedrather than distributed, andit is practicallyimpossible to cor'recticonditions in one portion ofthe library 49o without upsetting them in other portions. L

The velocity oithe air isalso' relatively low, and,

this.in"'connection'with the dead areastends to' cause dust deposition the books. V It s the purpose of thepresent invention-to overcame thesedifiicultiesby providing a simple and effective way of ventilating.

I t is another objectpf'the'invention to provide ventilation of a character in which the air moves 50 at relatively higher velocity, producing a pleasing eiTect in warm weather and tending to minimize dust deposit.

I secure the foregoing, together with such other objects and advantages as may hereinafter ap- 55 pear, by means of a construction which I have (cits-1') accompanying drawings, wherein L 'Fig. l is a vertical section through a portion of illustrated" more or less diagrammatically ihithe a library-embodyingmy'invention, the section uppers'urf acethe'floor of the succeeding level or T deckfand so on; Stack co1umns. 8 are provided at suitablyspaced intervals, these'supporting the hat slab flooring and being in turn supported ,by the latter, so that any suitable shell 9 may be used. to'enclose what may be termed the library unit.

By the use of flat slabifiooring. and the stack columns, .the interconnecting horizontal steelwork between columns may be entirely omitted, al-

though in some cases it may be desirable to connect the columns of a row, lengthwise of the row withbeams or the like to supplement the support fi-Qrded b t e flooring. Q 1. Either construction is. one which permits of the stacks'being carried substantiallyirom floor to ceilingproviding aisles which,ior all practical purposes when thestacksare'filled, are non-comniunicatingexcept in regionswhere there are crossing aisles. In otherwords, the arrangement is one by which the stacks are, in effect, partition walls, addition toefiectively utilizing substan: tially all of the vertical space between floors,the arrangement assists in providing for effective ventilation. V p

. In theform shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the ventilation is provided as follows: at a suitable point, as, for example, in thebasement there is an air conditioning apparatus indicated at l2. Conditioned air is supplied the floor immediately above through a series of inlet openings l3 which are preferably located at the end of thelongitudinal aisles provided by the bookstacks. ,The air entering throughthe apertures l 3 flows horizontally along the aisles to the opposite end where it passes through similar apertures M in the ceiling, in passing thereto flowing over the space immediately adjacent the windows 9a and over any radiators which are usually located at the ends of aisles. The air now travels to the left to the opposite end of the aisle and then up through the next ceiling, as before, and so on from floor to floor, the air eventually being taken downwardly to the conditioning apparatus through suitable conduit means indicated at I5. If desired, sealing material may be provided between the stacks and the flooring longitudinally of the rows of columns, as indicated at IS in Figures 1 and 2, to form a seal for the space at the top of the stacks.

By this arrangement the air is caused to sweep laterally over the decks, there is no dead space in any of the aisles, and rapid diffusion occurs, producing uniformity of conditions on the various floors, the only difierence in temperature as between floors being that due to thejabsorption of heat, as from the lights. The heating effect of the radiators is rapidly distributed. The difiiculties pointed out are thus overcome and in addition the air is more or less automatically caused to flow with substantial velocity, producing the pleasing effect noted and also tending to minimize dust deposit.

The ranges of Figs. 1 and 2 are composed of rolling cases, arranged end to end on either side of the longitudinal rows of columns. They roll into the aisles to provide access to the books. The distance between columns is a multiple of the width of the rolling cases. Rolling cases are used for such portions of the library as are relatively inactive. Ordinarily they would be employed for storage. In other portions of the library where books in active circulation are to be stored, standard forms of stacks such as shown in Fig. 3 may be employed. In such portions the ventilation employed in Figs. 1 and 2 may also be provided, or ventilation may be provided as indicated in Fig. 3 through ports I! arranged beneath the stacks to spread out laterally. These'ports, however, are so located in the respective floors as to cause lateral flow throughout the length of the aisles and then upward to the next level with lateral flow throughout the aisles before again passing to the next floor, and so on as indicated by the arrows in Figure 3.

In the construction shown in Fig'. 3 the shelving may be suspended from brackets secured to the flooring by expansion bolts 65 or the like. Also flooring 66 may be laid between curb angles.

The advantages and economy of the present invention will be appreciated on comparison with the methods of ventilation heretofore employed in library bookstacks.

It will be noted that the floors are tight, that is, continuous both in the aisles and. under the ranges, whereby it is possible to rearrange the cases in various ways, as, for example, by substituting rolling cases for the more or less fixed cases, without interfering with the ventilation system.

I claim:-

1. In library construction, a plurality of substantially tight slab decks, side walls, ranges of stacks with aisles therebetween, each deck having an air circulation slit for each aisle at one end thereof, with the slits in succeeding decks arranged at opposite ends thereof tocause the air to flow lengthwise through the aisles of a deck on its way to the aisles of the next deck, means for admitting air at the bottom deck,

air outlet means at the top deck, and means for setting up a flow of air to said air admitting means to flow consecutively through the aisles of the decks to the outlet means.

2. In library construction, a plurality of substantially tight slab decks, side walls, ranges of stacks with aisles therebetween, each deck being slitted adjacent a side wall, with the slits in succeeding decks being at opposite ends thereof, means for admitting air at the bottom deck, air outlet means at the top deck, and means for setting up a flow of air to said air admitting means to flow consecutively through the aisles of the decks to the outlet.

3. In library construction, a plurality of fiat slab decks, side walls, ranges of stacks with aisles therebetween, each deck having an air circulation slit for each aisle adjacent a side wall, with the slits in a succeeding deck being at the end opposite to that of the slits of a preceding deck, means for admitting air at the bottom deck, air outlet means at the top deck, the ranges of each floor extending substantially from floor to ceiling, and means for setting up a flow of air to said air admitting means to flow consecutively through the aisles of the decks to the outlet means.

4. In library construction, a plurality of substantially tight decks, ranges of stacks with aisles therebetween, each deck being slitted at one end of the aisles to serve the aisles with air, and means for setting up air flow through the aisles, said slits being at the opposite ends of the aisles in successive decks whereby the air flow zigzags through the aisles from floor to floor.

5. In library construction, a plurality of substantially tight decks, ranges of stacks with aisles therebetween, said stacks extending substantially from floor to ceiling, said decks being slitted at one end of the aisles to serve the aisles with air, and means for setting up air flow through the aisles, the slits in successive decks being at opposite ends of the aisles thereof, whereby the air is caused to flow through the aisles of successive decks in opposite directions.

6. In library construction, a plurality of substantially tight decks, ranges of stacks arranged similarly on the decks with aisles therebetween, each deck having an air slit at one end of each aisle for serving the aisles with air, and means for setting up air flow through the aisles, said slits being at the opposite ends of the aisles in successive decks; whereby a plurality of independent vertical zigzag air lanes, one for each vertical set of aisles, are provided.

'7. In library construction, a plurality of substantially tight decks, ranges of stacks with aisles therebetween, each deck having air circulation openings at one end of each aisle for serving each aisle of a deck independently with air, and means for setting up air flow through the aisles with air inlet at the lowermost deck and air outlet at the uppermost deck, the openings in successive decks being at opposite ends of the aisles thereof; whereby a plurality of independent vertical streams of air flowing zigzag through the aisles of successive decks are provided.

ANGUS S. MACDONALD. 

